Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White

The story talks of a runt whom an eight-year-old girl named Fern Arable has saved from being slaughtered by her father. Instead of doing away with the young pig, Mr. Arable puts Fern in charge with it, who later gave it the name ‘Wilbur’. However, after being put a few yards away from Fern to her uncle’s home down the road, Wilbur begins to feel lonely because he needs to have a friend.

A voice begins to tell Wilbur that he already has a friend. It was Charlotte, a beautiful gray spider that owns a big vocabulary. A number of weeks after, they learned that Zuckerman plans to slaughter Wilbur. Charlotte forms a plan, and in order to save her friend’s life, she begins to spell words and phrases in her web that praise Wilbur, so Zuckerman decides to bring him to the County Fair. Even if Charlotte has been preparing to lay eggs, she accompanies Wilbur to the fair and spins another word that made way for Wilbur to win the special medal and the $25 award. At the county, Charlotte lays a total of 514 eggs, but she is just about to die, so Wilbur takes her egg sac and takes responsibility of her children. He will never forget Charlotte, his first and most remarkable, true friend.

I think this book was chosen for Grief Management Class because it clearly reveals a way of being able to manage grief or loss. This is evident in the story when Wilbur shows how strong he is by doing something that is beneficial even with the loss of his true friend, Charlotte. Wilbur takes responsibility of Charlotte’s eggs, knowing that it is the only thing available that would surely give joy to Charlotte had she been alive. I chose this book because I like the theme of the story, as it shows that, while being in a state of grief or loss, it would be useless to merely sit or think and act negatively over the incident. We have to be strong inside and out to be able to stand up and take courage to fight. There are ways that we can use to manage grief or loss.

There are grief management issues that are being illustrated in the book:

• In relation to one child with death, the book illustrates that people who are grieving over the loss of a child should be forward-minded and should think about the alternative of coming up with another child who could help take away the feeling of loss or grief.
• In relation to Children Developmental Tasks, the book shows how parents should develop the mental and emotional beings of their children, and one example is through the use of chores or responsibilities that train them on how to become strong and independent.
•  In relation to death encounters and attitudes during childhood, the book illustrates that, like young Wilbur, children are helpless over personal cases that trigger the feelings of loss or grief; friends and loved ones should accompany them.
• In relation to death-related concepts in childhood, the book illustrates that, as seen in the episode after Charlotte dies in the story, children are unable to connect death with the reality of how it can affect the future.
• In relation to children who live in life-threatening illnesses, the book illustrates that they need friends who would accompany them over their defenselessness.
• Finally,  in relation to helping children cope with death and bereavement, the book shows that coping go hand in hand with new focuses and tasks.

The part of the book that made the most impact and one that might remain with me is the episode when Charlotte dies alone with Wilbur leaving to take her egg sac. At first, I was anxious as to why Wilbur would do such a thing as to leave Charlotte in the county while dying. Later on, I perceived that what Wilbur did was something that Charlotte would have wanted because her friend took responsibility of something that she would not have been able to do. From this assignment, I learned that grief or loss management cannot be completed without being strong inside and out. It is doing something that is forward-looking, and doing what our lost or departed friends would have wanted all along. I learned that to manage grief or loss, I have to stand up and fight, while making sure that my mental and emotional sides are intact. Having true friends is also an important factor.